System and method for initiating a conference call

ABSTRACT

The present invention is a system and method for initiating conference calls via an instant messaging system to reduce the effort required to initiate and manage the call. The system uses an IM connection between a requesting party and a conference call server to inform the conference call server of the desire to initiate the conference call. The conference call server may initiate the conference call by having involved parties called by a conference bridge, thus reducing the effort required by the parties to join the call.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 60/531,722 filed on Dec. 22, 2003, theentire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference thereto.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a method for initiating aconference call between two or more users, and more particularly toinitiating a voice conference call between two or more users using acentral server to communicate parameters for the call and for initiatingthe call itself.

BACKGROUND

Business meetings where the differing perspectives of the participantsprovide the value of the meeting have been conducted for a long time. Asthe costs associated with travel have increased, companies have turnedfrom face to face meetings to meetings allowing participants to beseparately located, including telephone conferences, video conferences,and more recently through on-line meetings.

As traffic congestion grows in every part of the country, and softwaretools improve, companies worldwide are recognizing that it is possibleto have effective meetings on-line. There are various forms ofreal-time, or on-line, collaboration. The simplest form is instantmessaging. The ability of messaging software to tell another user who isavailable at a given moment is called “presence”. Presence awareness hasbeen proven to eliminate up to 35% of voicemail, and as much as 30% ofemail, particularly long threaded discussions. Because of this, instantmessaging has become the fastest growing form of communication inhistory. Gartner predicts over 200 million business users will be usingsome form of enterprise instant messaging by the end of 2005, anincrease of over 100 million users from 2003.

Instant messaging has its roots in the consumer industry, but is virallyworking its way into corporations. Consumer messaging systems typicallyoffer no security, no IT control over usage, and no reportingcapabilities. Nor do consumer systems offer tracking history ofconversations, a requirement of a number of federal statutes, from theSEC to Sarbanes-Oxley to the new medical HIPPA requirements. There areno clear leaders in the corporate instant messaging market, although theopportunity has been recently showcased by the entrance of Microsoft andIBM.

Oftentimes, messaging leads to the requirement for one or more meetingswith the participants. Historically this required travel, whichlengthened the business processes and significantly increased costs.With the advent of various forms of desktop application sharing, it isnow possible for multiple users to “see” the same desktop at the sametime. This “real-time” collaboration market is just emerging, and isestimated by Collaborative Strategies to be about a $6 billion market,with an average annual growth rate of 64% through 2005, and is expectedto add 20 million users to its ranks in the next several years.

In a recent Deloitte Consulting survey of 300 of the Fortune 1000,collaboration was top priority with 75% of respondents. While less than30% were using some foil of collaborative tools today, 80% ofrespondents said they would implement some collaboration capability by2005. According to a recent Yankee Group survey, companies will save$223 B over next 5 years by collaborating over the Internet.

Because of the size of this emerging opportunity, Microsoft recentlyacquired a company called Placeware, for $180 million, to providesoftware for on-line meetings. Placeware has been renamed and is nowbeing offered by Microsoft, coupled with Windows 2003 server, asMicrosoft Live Meeting. Microsoft internally calculates that they willsave over $43 million this year alone in time and travel costs if just 1in 5 meetings are conducted on-line. Microsoft will spend over $300million this year promoting Live Meeting, and joins IBM with its LotusSametime product, WebEx, and another 3 dozen smaller competitors.

The commonality of all of the collaboration products is that once theusers begin their on-line meeting, they use a number of tools. Many ofthem require some form of application sharing, and all of them requiresome form of accompanying communication, from instant messaging toconference calls. Although instant messaging is sometimes used forextended conversations, most of the time the discussions are brief.‘Conversations’ between a number of participants that become moreinvolved are dependent upon the typing skills of each participant, whichleads to the need for everyone to join in a conference call.

Similarly, real-time collaboration products imply the need for aconference call. MS Live Meeting, IBM Lotus Sametime, WebEx, and a hostof other software products all make an assumption that once you aresharing a document or spreadsheet, the users are on a conference call sothey can discuss it. This brings real value to the meeting, yet theintegration of the call into the collaboration process has not yet beenaddressed.

In the past, the problem with integrating telephony products intosoftware has centered on integration with the PBX. In large part this isbecause the call initiator's computer needed to pass the varioustelephony commands to the PBX, and no two PBX's are alike. This requiressystem integrators, and up until now has reduced the scalability of theopportunity.

Furthermore, most PBX systems can only join a few users in a conferencecall. They cannot join many parties, leaving the originators the optionof creating either a “meet me” or an operator assisted conference call.Because the users must typically dial a central number, such as a tollfree number, and enter a passcode, it is difficult to make the callsspontaneous. Yet, the needs of both instant messaging and on-linemeetings demand it.

A further concern arises regarding the security of a conference callusing the call in model. Any caller knowing the call in number andpasscode may enter into the conference call, without the knowledge ofthe other members of the call. Although it is possible for the callservice to monitor the number of connections, the call service may beunable to ascertain the identity of callers, such as where the callingnumber is blocked. Furthermore, even if the identity of participantswere disclosed to a call originator during a conference call, suchinformation could be a distraction during the conference call.

Conference calls today fall into 2 categories:

-   -   1. “Meet Me” calls—These conference calls involve all users of        the call dialing, via a publicly switched telephone network        (hereafter “PSTN”), cellular telephone, or via a voice over        internet protocol network, a central phone number or ANI to a        conference bridge and entering a personal identification number        (hereafter “PIN”) or pass code to join the call. These calls may        be may be set up by an originating user by going to a web site        to set up the call, through calling an operator and setting the        call up, or setting up a static DNIS to which all users may dial        on occasion.    -   2. Host-initiated Calls—These calls involve the host originating        calls to all of the participants. In order to accomplish this,        the host must initiate the call one of two ways:    -   a) either the host enters an ANI on his telephone and through        pressing a combination of buttons has that party joined to the        call, and repeats this process for each conference call        participant, or;    -   b) the host types in the phone numbers of all the expected        participants, either to a web site after which the web site will        initiate a conference bridge and dial all the participants, or        manually provides them to an operator who initiates the calls to        the participants.

These methods are inefficient, in that they require a conference callrequester or party to the conference call to manually inform either theparties to the conference call, or the conference bridge itself, ofparameters, passwords, and phone numbers for the call.

Instant messaging (hereafter “IM”) systems employ a client-server modelon Internet protocol (hereafter “IP”) networks to deliver text chat andother information to distributed users in real-time. Instant Messagingclient software may be loaded onto a user's workstation or may be usedin a web browser, and may allow a user to log into a remote InstantMessaging server. Once a user has logged in, business rules may be usedto determine which other users are available to communicate with thefirst user in the instant messaging system. Many IM systems allow usersto create lists of other users that they commonly communicate with Whena user in such a list logs into the IM system, the server informs thelist owner that a user in their list has logged on and is available tochat. In addition, Instant Messaging systems provide directory servicesthat permit the users to search for another user. Once a user has theaddress of a second user, the first user can request a collaborativechat session with the second user. The second user can choose to eitheraccept or reject the chat session. After the session has been accepted,the users may be able to communicate in a private or public chat sessionby typing text messages to one another. The message can be eithertransmitted through a central server, or directly between users (peer topeer) once the first user has determined the availability of the seconduser from the IM system. These chat sessions may take place over anunsecured IP network. Further extensions of IM allow multipleparticipants to be involved in a chat session.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention may use a communications channel establishedthrough an instant messaging service to transmit a request to initiate aconference call from a network access device associated with aconference call requester to a conference call server. The conferencecall server, upon receiving the request, may initiate the formation of aconference bridge a conference call between the conference callrequester and one or more call participants.

In a first embodiment, the present invention may be embodied in a methodfor initiating a conference call, including the steps of providing aconference call server; providing a conference call requester with anetwork accessible device communicable with an instant messagingservice; generating a conference call request by the conference callrequester; transmitting the call request from the call requester to theconference call server; receiving the call request at the conferencecall server; parsing the conference call request to determine parametersassociated with a requested conference call; and initiating a conferencecall in accordance with parameters associated with the requestedconference call. The instant messaging service may be adapted tocommunicate conference call request information with the conference callserver.

The present invention may further use the presence component of aninstant messaging system to determine whether prospective attendees areavailable for a conference call through this presence with the instantmessaging service, then using stored information that includes anaddress for a party, either through an IM channel or at a specific phonenumber or VOIP address, create the ability for instant messaging usersto immediately create any combination of PSTN, Cellular, and VOIPconference calls between users some of whom may be in instant messagingsessions, and without the necessity of each user to dial a telephonenumber or having the host look up the phone number of each participantin order to place an outbound telephone call. The invention may collect,through a variety of means, the information needed to join those usersinto a telephone conference call, pass the dialing information and otherparameters to a central server, and send an invitation to eachparticipant in advance of placing the call. The central server maydirectly or indirectly establish a conference bridge, initiate a seriesof outbound calls to each of the selected users from the instantmessaging session, and seamlessly join those users in a conference callusing a conference bridge. Via the instant messaging service, theconference call initiator may be able to see, via presence awareness,whether one of more additional users with whom he wishes to conferenceare available, and may invite these users to the call either throughsimilar means, or by passing information to those users about how toconnect to a call. Optionally, and at the users discretion, the centralserver can also add a “silent” user which is a recording device, to theconference bridge, record the call, and at the conclusion of the callpass the recorded voice transcript back to the Instant Messaging Serverfor archiving purposes. Additionally, using the instant messaginginterface and based upon the conference server capabilities, the callinitiator may apply certain business rules to various participants inthe call, such as muting or dropping that participant from the call,archiving the participants telephone numbers, call duration, and callset-up parameters.

FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows a flowchart of the initiation of a conference callaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a more comprehensive illustrative flowchart of theinitiation of a conference call according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a notional flowchart of the initiation of a conference callaccording to the present invention, in an environment in which eachprospective caller has access to a network access device.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a system for accomplishing theinitiation of conference calls according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a notional network access device display throughwhich a conference call may be initiated.

FIG. 6 shows a notional network access device display through whichconference call targets may be selected.

FIG. 7 shows a notional network access device display identifyingparameters associated with a potential target for a conference callinitiated according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows a notional network access device display identifyingtargets previously involved in conference calls who are potentiallyavailable for a conference call, including identification of anavailability status for each target where such potential target has anongoing presence with the instant messaging service.

FIG. 9 shows a notional network access device display identifyingtargets previously involved in conference calls who are potentiallyavailable for a conference call, filtered to display potential targetshaving access to application sharing capabilities.

FIG. 10 shows a notional network access device display identifyingtargets previously involved in conference calls who are potentiallyavailable for a conference call, filtered to display only potentialtargets for which an e-mail client contact information is available.

FIG. 11 shows a notional network access device display allowingretrieval of parameters associated with a previous conference call.

FIG. 12 shows an alternate system and process for initiating conferencecalls according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 shows a notional network access device display for displayingconference call management parameters to a conference call requester.

FIG. 14 shows a notional network access device display for displayingconference call management parameters associated with a particularconference call.

FIG. 15 shows an alternate process for initiating conference callsaccording to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following definitions are provided to more readily describe thepresent invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of theclaims:

Access Authorization is the means by which a connection and/or requestfor service is authenticated to permit a party to access a service.There are many ways to authenticate a user, including, but not limitedto, sign on ID's and passwords, digital signatures, electronic keycards,and biometric devices.

A Network Access Device (hereafter “NAD”) is any device capable ofcommunicating over a network to one or more other Network Access Devicesusing a common protocol. Such NADs can include but are not limited tocomputers, servers, workstations, Internet appliances, terminals, hosts,personal digital assistants (hereafter “PDAs”), and digital cellulartelephones.

Encryption is the transformation of data into a form that cannot be reador understood without the use of a decryption algorithm. The purpose ofencryption is to minimize the ability of third parties (who are notdesired to participate in a conference call) to understand the contentsof a message.

Decryption is the reverse of encryption; it is the transformation ofencrypted data back into a readable form.

Address—This is the identifier for where a participant to a conferencecall may be contacted, and may be, but is not limited to, a PSTN orcellular phone number, such as an ANI, or a unique identifier associatedwith a voice over Internet protocol communications path.

ANI—Automatic Number Identifier—This is the direct phone number of acall participant, and is typically the number at which a person may bedirectly dialed.

Conference Bridge—Switching circuitry used to interconnect two or morecommunications paths connected to participants to allow simultaneousconversations between the participants.

Conference Call—A communication between two or more parties who aredisparately located, using a connection allowing the transmission ofaudible, verbal, or visual data, or a combination thereof, includingvideoconferencing in which participants are visible to otherparticipants as well as able to verbally communicate with each other.

PSTN—The voice networks are referred to as a publicly switched telephonenetwork (PSTN) and its related services.

VOIP—Voice over Internet Protocol

As shown in FIG. 1, the core of the present invention is the use ofinstant messaging to trigger initiation of a host initiated conferencecall. The first step is providing 102 a conference call server. Theconference call server may be connected to a network, such as anInternet protocol based network. The conference call server may have theability to receive instant messenger messages requesting initiation of aconference call. The conference call server may have one or more portsfor connecting participants, such as by a VOIP path, or through atelephonic network. Connection of two or more paths allows the formationof a conference bridge. Alternately, the conference server may havestored information identifying one or more conference bridges discretefrom the conference server, such as conference bridge capabilitiesprovided by one or more third party vendors.

Next, a first party, hereafter referred to as the conference callrequester, may be provided 104 with a network access device (hereafter“NAD”). The NAD may be connected to a network to which a conference callserver is connected, as well as to an instant messaging service adaptedto communicate a conference call request to the conference call server.In particular, the instant messaging service may be adapted tocommunicate a request that a conference call be initiated, potentiallyincluding parameters associated with the desired call. The instantmessaging service may be adapted to receive information in a taggedfield format, such as HTML or XML, such that information contained inthe message may be correctly parsed to allow the conference call serverto properly initiate, or request initiation of, a conference callbridge.

When a conference call requester desires to initiate a conference call,the conference call requester may generate 106 a message (hereafterreferred to as the “conference request message”) to the conferenceserver identifying parties who are potential participants (“potentialtargets”) to a conference call. The potential call targets may beidentified by an alias, such as a user name associated with theconference call targets in the conference call requester's NAD.Alternately, the information may be an alias identifying informationassociated with the potential targets stored in the conference server.Alternately, the potential targets may be identified by phone numbers orother addresses for the potential targets. Once the conference requestmessage has been generated, the conference request message may betransmitted 108 from the NAD to the conference call server.

The conference request message may then be received 110 by theconference server. The conference server may parse 112 the receivedmessage to determine the address of the selected conference calltargets. Parsing may involve stripping explicitly provided target phonenumbers or VOIP addresses from the message, or converting aliasesidentified in a message. The conference call server may then initiate114 or request initiation of a conference bridge between the conferencecall requester and the conference call targets.

As may be noted in FIG. 1, the availability of conference call targetsis not pre-determined in the simple process shown. As shown in FIG. 2,the instant messaging environment may be used to reduce the number ofcommunications paths opened to unavailable or unwilling parties. In theprocess shown in FIG. 2, each of the conference call targets have an NADin communication with an instant messaging service. Such a situationcould arise where each of the targets are involved in a sharedapplication session, with IM being used to provide a channel forcommunications outside the shared application session. In such asituation, the conference call server, which could be common with theshared application session server, could have a communications path 202established with each of the NAD's associated with the conference calltargets. When a conference call request is received by the conferenceserver, the conference server may use the target identification portionof the message to determine the appropriate channel to the IM capabilityof the conference call target's IM software on their NAD, and generate204 a conference request message to the conference call target ortargets. The conference call targets could, upon receipt of theconference request message, decide 206 whether or not they desired tojoin the proposed conference call, and respond accordingly via theirinstant messaging software. The conference call server could thengenerate 208 a list of targets for the conference call, and theninitiate 210 the conference call. As noted above, the initiation of theconference call may be accomplished by the forwarding of the list ofattendees to conference call creator software, which could then initiatethe conference call as discussed further below. Furthermore, conferencebridges could be established for potential participants who are notconnected through an instant messenger, although the potential thenexists for the non-IM invitees to not be available to join a conferencecall.

As shown in FIG. 3, a more robust embodiment of the present inventionmay be implemented to allow further functionality. For the purposes ofillustration, the Figure shows three parties, User A 302, User B 304,and User C 306, involved 308 in an IM session, such as a chat sessionwhich could occur during a shared application session. User A 302, theconference call requester, could request a conference call through theNAD in use by User A. The IM service in communication with User A's NADcould be implemented to be aware of the on-going IM session, such thatthe software would determine the list of conference call targets fromthe list of parties presently in the IM session. Thus, User A couldrequest a conference call with one step, such as through actuation of a“call now” button or icon associated with User A's IM service.Alternately, User A could be provided with a list of participants of theon-going IM session, and be provided 312 with the opportunity to add orremove potential participants from a planned conference call.

The conference call server in communication with User A's NAD may beprovided with functionality for assessing charges associated with theconference call. A first step may be to determine 314 whether User A isa subscriber to a service providing the conference call server. If UserA is not a subscriber to the service, User A may be informed 316 that heis not allowed to use the service. Although not shown, User A may beprovided with the opportunity to subscribe to the service at this point.If User A is determined to be a subscriber, User A may be queried toprovide information identifying a method for paying for the proposedconference call, such as through use of a credit card. Alternately, acharge account may be associated with a subscriber, such that once it isdetermined that User A is a subscriber, User A may be prompted to verifythat the call should be charged to the associated account. Once User Ahas provided 318 charge information, the charge information may beverified 320. If it is determined that the charge information isinvalid, User A may be so informed 322.

If it is determined that the charge information is valid, the conferencecall server may send 324 a conference call invitation to Users B and C.If Users B and C accept 326 the conference call invitation, theconference call server may prompt 328 Users B and C, via the IMfunctionality on their respective NADs, to verify their phone numbersfor the conference call, or to provide information regarding callingthem if no address information is available. The verification processmay incorporate the use of information pre-stored in the conference callserver for Users B and C, such that Users B and C may be prompted 330with the pre-stored information to determine if it is correct, thusreducing the effort required for Users B and C to provide the necessaryinformation to the conference call server.

The conference call server may then initiate a conference call bridgebetween the conference requester and the targets. If it is determinedthat, for each target, that direct dial calls are enabled, theconference bridge provider can dial 334 the direct dial number for thetargets, connect to VOIP paths if VOIP connections are to be used, ormay implement a combination of direct dialed and VOIP connections. If itdetermined that a target is not able to be direct dialed, the conferencecall server may send 336 an IM message to the non-direct dial target,providing a call-in number and passcode for the proposed conferencecall. Additionally, the conference call server may instruct 338 the NADsof the targets to disable any conference call request functionalitywhile the present conference call is underway.

The conference call server may further utilize third party conferencecall providers for the actual initiation of a conference call based onparameters generated by the conference call server or the conferencecall requester. Various conference call providers may provide differentfunctionality and/or rate structures. Functionality may include theability to record a conference call, the ability to have listeners tothe conference call (as opposed to parties with the ability to bothlisten and speak), the ability or inability to add or drop participantsduring a conference call, the ability to interactively mute aparticipant during a conference call, or the ability to provide videoconferencing. Parameters associated with such choices may be providedfor individual targets through target identity information provided tothe conference call server, such as through the interface screen shownin FIG. 7, discussed further below.

Selection of conference call providers may also be determined based onrates associated with long distance charges which would be incurred as aresult of the conference call, or based upon a preferred routing whereVOIP paths are used. Different users may be in different regionsgeographically, such that different phone service providers would chargedifferent amounts for the long distance aspect of the conference call.Thus, use of rate information in association with geographic informationassociated with conference call targets would allow minimization of longdistance fees based on the geographic aspect of the conference calltargets.

Where the conference call server initiates the conference call itself,the conference call server may use such geographic information to selectspecific long distance or data carriers for different conference calltargets, again allowing minimization of the long distance, cost, ordelay aspects. Such selections could include the selection of callrepeaters at distant locations, to allow one communications service toforward the call into a geographic region, with a second serviceprovider connecting to the conference call target. Such forwarding maybe important where cellular or satellite paths are involved.

Conference call recording may also be implemented within the process,such that the requesting party can indicate 340 a desire to have aconference call recorded. If such a desire is received, the request thatthe call is to be recorded can be transmitted to Users B and C, such asvia the IM channel, and User B and C acceptance of the recording bedetermined and recorded. Having the acceptance recorded may providebenefits at a later date, should the recording be challenged by a Userclaiming not to have known the call was being recorded.

Once the conference call is completed, the conference call server canrecord 342 the duration of the call, and assess appropriate charges tothe designated account. If a conference call functionability wasdisabled during initiation of the conference call, the functionabilitythat was previously disabled may be re-enabled 344. Furthermore, if thecall was recorded, a transcript of the call may be generated 346 andforwarded to a relevant party.

As shown in FIG. 4, a system for accomplishing the present invention maybe implemented in a conference call server 402 connected to a network404. The conference call server 402 may have a database 406 associatedwith the server 402 for storing account information, user information,and call management information, etc. Where one or more third partyconference bridge providers may be used, information regarding the ratestructures of the third party providers may be stored, to allowoptimization of conference bridge provider selection. The conferencecall server may additionally be connected directly to a telephonenetwork 408 or VOIP connection, or indirectly through a third partyconference bridge 410 a, 410 b, . . . .

A shared application server may also be connected to allow informationgenerated during a shared application session to be accessed by theconference call server as required, such as to determine a list ofparties involved in a shared application session. Shared applicationsessions comprise the ability of multiple viewers to view the interfacewith a particular software application operating on a particular set ofdata, and may include the ability of each viewer to simultaneouslyoperate the shared application. Such shared applications are discussedfurther in applicant's United States Patent Publication No. 20030018725,a.k.a. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/015,077, filed Oct. 26, 2001,the contents of which are herein incorporated in their entirety byreference thereto. The users may be connected to the system via anetwork access device 414, which may be any network communicable devicehaving the appropriate IM software service access. Although shown as aseparate element, each user may also have telephonic capabilities 416associated with the user. As discussed above, the telephonic capabilitymay be implemented into the NAD, such as through a digital cell phone,or VOIP connection through a desktop or laptop computer connected to thenetwork.

As shown in FIG. 5, a display 502 may be generated on the NAD of aconference call requester to allow the conference call requester toinvite potential participants to a proposed conference call, where IM isimplemented on the potential participants NAD, or may allow a conferencecall requester to select targets to be called directly to be included ina proposed conference call where the conference call target is notprovided with an IM capable NAD. An IM presence of some or all of theprospective target may be monitored by the IM server, such that thepresence of prospective targets may be displayed for the conference callrequester, such as by showing prospective targets who are not presentlyconnected via IM to the conference server in a grayed display 504 withprospective target list, or by the display of present or not presentflags on the display. Providing such information to the conference callrequester may have the additional advantage of providing the conferencecall requester with information on which to base a decision of whetheror not to request a conference call at a given time, based onprospective target availability.

FIG. 6 illustrates a notational information screen 602 for selectingprospective targets. The information screen 602 may include check boxes604 to allow a conference call requester to designate potential targetsthat the conference call requester would like joined in a conferencecall, as well as a feature 606 allow the conference call requester totransmit information to the conference call server such that aconference call may be initiated. The information screen may also beprovided with a feature 608 such that the conference call requester maybe able to signal to the conference call server that an on-goingconference call should be terminated.

FIG. 7 illustrates a notional information screen 702 for querying andreceiving parameters associated with a party. FIG. 8 shows a notionalconference history display 802 for managing conference calls. Conferencehistory information may be stored on the conference call server, suchthat the information may be accessible via an NAD.

FIG. 8 illustrates a notional information screen 802 for allowing aconference call requester to select targets for a conference call from alist that has been filtered to only identify potential targets that haveparticipated in previous conference calls. FIG. 9 illustrates a notionalinformation screen 902 for allowing a conference call requester toselect targets for a conference call from a list that has been filteredto only identify potential targets that have an application sharingcapability through their network access devices.

FIG. 10 illustrates a notional information screen 1002 for allowing aconference call requester to select targets for a conference call from alist that has been filtered to only identify potential targets for whichcontacts are available in the conference call requester's e-mailapplication. Alternately, such contacts could be obtained from anyapplication maintaining a contact list.

FIG. 11 illustrates a notional information screen 1102 to allow aconference call requester to retrieve parameters from a previousconference call. As a feature of the system, the conference call servermay store identifying information regarding a previous conference call,including but not limited to, the addresses of participants, projectidentifying information 1104, and subject information 1106 for the priorconference call. This information may be displayed for the conferencecall requester to enable the conference call requester to recall andreuse parameters from the prior conference call.

FIG. 12 illustrates an alternate system embodying the present invention.A text messaging server 1202 may be provided for coordinating IM textmessaging between a conference call requester and one or more targets,shown as text messaging clients 1204 a, 1204 b, 1204 c, and 1204 d. Thetext messaging server may function concurrently as the conference callserver, operating conference setup software 1206. The text messagingserver 1202 may be connected through the conference setup software to aconference bridge 1208, either operated in conjunction with the textmessaging server 1202, or maintained by a third party conference callservice provider. The text messaging server 1202 may additionally beprovided with access to a database 1208, either organically or remotely,to allow storage and retrieval associated with the instant messagingservice, as well as the conference call service. The conference bridgemay have several communications paths 1210 a, 1210 b, and 1210 c, whichallow the conference bridge to interconnect telephone lines toaccomplish a conference call. Additionally, the conference bridge may beprovided with network paths 1212 a, 1212 b, and 1212 c, communicablyconnected to electronic devices such as personal computers 1214, toallow VOIP communications paths to be established to targets. Thenetwork paths are not restricted to VOIP protocols, but may alternatelybe used to provide videoconferencing capabilities, or the display ofcommon visual displays for the participants to a conference call.

FIG. 13 illustrates a notional information screen 1302 displayingmanagement parameters associated with a completed conference call, suchas date information 1304, a project identifier 1306, a subjectidentifier 1308, durational information 1310, attendance information1312, and costing information 1314. This information may be collected bythe conference call server or third party conference call serviceprovider, and stored by the conference call server to enable managementof conference calls. Such information may also be retained to functionas a record of prior conference call participant information. As notedabove, an indicator 1316 may also be provided indicating whether aconference call was recorded for later playback or transcription.

FIG. 14 shows a notional information screen 1402 showing managementdetails associated with a prior conference call, such as could bedrilled down from the display of FIG. 13. Individual participants 1404of a prior conference call could be listed on such a display.

FIG. 15 illustrates an alternate process embodying the presentinvention, in which a conference call requester (“CCR”) accesses 1502 anetwork access device (“NAD”), such as to be involved in a sharedapplication session, or simply for the purpose of initiating aconference call. The CCR may then cause the NAD to be connected to aconference call server (“CCS”) such as by entering an address into a webbrowser, or even by first creating a dial up connection to the Internetor CCS directly. Connection of the NAD to the CCS may cause thepresentation of information regarding potential conference call targetson the NAD, such as through the displays discussed above. The CCR mayselect potential targets from the display, or manually add potentialtargets to a potential target list, to be included in a conference callrequest to be generated 1510 on and transmitted 1512 by the NAD to theconference call server, which may then initiate the conference calleither directly or through a third party conference call serviceprovider. Preferably, the conference call server or third partyconference call service provider will identify optimized communicationspaths for the targets, and make connections from the conference callserver or third party conference call service provider to the targets,interconnecting the related communications paths to form the conferencecall.

Other variations and modifications of the present invention will beapparent to those of skill in the art, and it is the intent of theappended claims that such variations and modifications be covered. Theparticular values and configurations discussed above can be varied andare cited merely to illustrate a particular embodiment of the presentinvention and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Itis contemplated that the use of the present invention can involvecomponents having different characteristics as long as the principles ofthe invention are followed.

1-79. (canceled)
 80. A method for initiating a conference call for aconference call requester using a network access device, the networkaccess device communicating via an instant messaging service, theinstant messaging service being adapted to communicate conference callrequest information with a conference call server, comprising:indicating, at the network access device, a plurality of potentialtargets then being connected to the instant messaging service andparticipating in a given instant messaging session with the conferencecall requester; generating a conference call request responsively to asingle request by the conference call requester, said conference callrequest identifying each of the indicated potential targets; andtransmitting the conference call request to the conference call server;wherein, a conference call connection initiated by the conference callserver and connected to the conference call requestor and each of theindicated potential targets is automatically established responsively tothe transmitted conference call request.
 81. The method of claim 80,wherein the instant messaging service comprises a software client activeon said network access device.
 82. The method of claim 80, wherein theinstant messaging service comprises an Internet accessible applicationbeing communicably connected to said network access device via theInternet.
 83. The method of claim 82, wherein the Internet accessibleapplication comprises a browser viewable web page.
 84. The method ofclaim 80, wherein the conference call connection utilizes a publiclyswitched telephone network.
 85. The method of claim 80, wherein theconference call connection utilizes a voice over Internet protocol(VoIP) communications path.
 86. The method of claim 80, wherein theconference call connection provides for video data transmission.
 87. Themethod of claim 80, wherein the conference call connection utilizes acellular communications path.
 88. The method of claim 80, wherein thenetwork access device further comprises an application sharingcapability.
 89. The method of claim 88, wherein the application sharingcapability comprises an application sharing client installed on thenetwork access device.
 90. The method of claim 88, wherein theapplication sharing capability is integrated with the instant messagingservice, the integration comprising functionality to allow a user togenerate a conference call request via the instant messaging servicefrom within the application sharing capability.
 91. The method of claim80, further comprising determining whether at least one potential targetto a conference call is available for the conference call dependent uponthe presence of an IM presence for the at least one potential target.92. The method of claim 91, wherein the initiating the conference callcomprises communicating information from the conference call server to athird party conference call service, the third party conference callservice establishing a conference bridge between the call requester andthe identified potential targets.
 93. The method of claim 92, whereinthe conference bridge selects between alternate communications paths atleast partially dependent upon cost criteria.
 94. The method of claim93, wherein at least one of the alternate communications paths comprisea Voice over IP (VoIP) communications path.
 95. The method of claim 94,wherein the conference bridge selects between alternate communicationspaths at least partially dependent upon performance criteria.
 96. Themethod of claim 95, wherein at least one of the alternate communicationspaths comprise a Voice over IP (VoIP) communications path.
 97. Themethod of claim 80, wherein the conference call request comprisesaddresses for the identified potential targets.
 98. The method of claim97, wherein at least one of the addresses comprises an automatic numberidentifier.
 99. The method of claim 98, wherein at least one of theaddresses comprises a voice over IP (VoIP) address.
 100. The method ofclaim 80, wherein the network access device comprises a capability forcommunicating audio information via an Internet protocol connection.101. The method of claim 80, wherein the network access device comprisesa capability for communicating audio and visual information via anInternet protocol connection.
 102. A method for initiating a conferencecall for a conference call requester using a network access device, thenetwork access device communicating via an instant messaging service,the instant messaging service being adapted to communicate conferencecall request information with a conference call server, comprising:identifying a plurality of potential targets then being connected to theinstant messaging service and participating in a given instant messagingsession with the conference call requester; receiving, at the conferencecall server, a conference call request responsively to a single requestby the conference call requester, said conference call requestidentifying each of the identified potential targets; and wherein, aconference call connection initiated by the conference call server andconnected to the conference call requestor and each of the identifiedpotential targets is automatically established responsively to thetransmitted conference call request.